# John FitzJames

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_FitzJames
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/John_FitzJames.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_FitzJames
> Source revision: 1242249009
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Sir John Fitzjames''' (c. 1465/70 – c. 1542) was [Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench](/source/Lord_Chief_Justice_of_England_and_Wales) from 1526 until 1539.

Sir John was a nephew of [Richard Fitzjames](/source/Richard_Fitzjames), [Bishop of London](/source/Bishop_of_London) during the [Hunne](/source/Richard_Hunne) case. Sir John had also been [Recorder of Bristol](/source/Recorder_of_Bristol), [Attorney-General](/source/Attorney_General_for_England_and_Wales) and [Chief Baron of the Exchequer](/source/Chief_Baron_of_the_Exchequer).

According to [William Roper](/source/William_Roper)'s ''Life of Sir [Thomas More](/source/Thomas_More)'', when [Lord Chancellor](/source/Lord_Chancellor) [Thomas Audley](/source/Thomas_Audley%2C_1st_Baron_Audley_of_Walden) was challenged by More as to the sufficiency of the [indictment](/source/indictment) under which he was condemned at his [trial for treason](/source/Thomas_More) on July 1, 1535, the Chancellor (who, according to Roper, wished to avoid all the blame for More's condemnation being imputed to himself) consulted with Fitzjames, "who, like a wise man answered, 'My Lords all, by [St. Julian](/source/Julian_the_Hospitaller),' (that was ever his oath) 'I must needs confess that if the [act of parliament](/source/Acts_of_Supremacy) be not unlawful, then is the indictment in my conscience not insufficient,' whereupon the Lord Chancellor said to the rest of the Lords, 'Lo, my Lords, lo! you hear what my Lord Chief Justice saith,' and so immediately gave judgment against him."<ref>{{cite book |first=SW |last=Singer |title=The Life of Sir Thomas More, by his son-in-law, William Roper, Esq. |publisher=C. Whittingham, Chiswick |year=1822 |pages=88–89 }}</ref>

Later in that same month, when the King's chief minister, [Thomas Cromwell](/source/Thomas_Cromwell%2C_1st_Earl_of_Essex), wanted to halt the export of coin he decided to consult Fitzjames on whether a [proclamation](/source/proclamation) could be used for this. Cromwell asked him what the King could do if "there wer no law nor statute made alreadye for any suche purpose", to which Fitzjames replied that a proclamation was "of as good effecte as any law made by parlyament or otherwyse". Cromwell was "veray gladde to here" Fitzjames' answer.<ref>{{cite book |first=RB |last=Merriman |title=The Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell: Volume II |volume=II |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1902 |page=409 }}</ref>

When the [Reformation Parliament](/source/English_Reformation_Parliament) was prorogued in 1536 Fitzjames was rewarded £40 by the King.

He married, after 1514, (as her second husband) Elizabeth, daughter of [Sir Humphrey Coningsby, Knt., (c1450-1535) Judge of King's Bench](/source/Humphrey_Coningsby_(judge)), by his spouse Alice Ferriby. She died between November 1545 and May 1546.<ref>''The Genealogist'' edited by H. W. Forsyth-Harwood, New Series, vol.xxvi, London, 1910, p.214, - "The Two Coningsbys, Justices of the King's Bench" by G. O. Bellewes.</ref>
  
==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==

*Stanford E. Lehmberg, ''The Reformation Parliament, 1529-1536'' (Cambridge University Press, 1970).
*{{cite book |first=RB |last=Merriman |title=The Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell: Volume I |volume=I |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1902 }}
*{{cite book |first=SW |last=Singer |title=The Life of Sir Thomas More, by his son-in-law, William Roper, Esq.|publisher=C. Whittingham, Chiswick |year=1822 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef| before = [John Ernley](/source/John_Ernley) }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [Attorney General for England and Wales](/source/Attorney_General_for_England_and_Wales)
       | years  = 1518 &ndash; 1522 }}
{{s-aft| after  = [John Roper](/source/John_Roper_(Attorney-General)) }}
|-
{{s-bef| before = John Scot }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [Chief Baron of the Exchequer](/source/Chief_Baron_of_the_Exchequer)
       | years  = 1522 &ndash; 1526 }}
{{s-aft| after  = [Sir Richard Broke](/source/Richard_Broke_(judge)) }}
|-
{{s-bef| before = [John Fineux](/source/John_Fineux) }}
{{s-ttl| title  = [Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench](/source/Lord_Chief_Justice_of_England_and_Wales)
       | years  = 1526 &ndash; 1539 }}
{{s-aft| after  = [Edward Montagu](/source/Edward_Montagu_(judge)) }}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzJames, John}}
Category:1460s births
Category:1540s deaths
Category:Lord chief justices of England and Wales
Category:Justices of the King's Bench
Category:Chief Barons of the Exchequer
Category:15th-century English lawyers
Category:16th-century English judges
Category:Attorneys general for England and Wales

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John FitzJames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_FitzJames) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_FitzJames?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.